NSW Department of Education

LearningLearning throughthrough playplay

Play is a fun and engaging way to support your child’s learning and development. Below you’ll find some information about the benefits of learning through play to your child’s development and their readiness for school. We’ve also included examples of learning through play activities you can engage in with your child at home.

What is learning through play? • develop fine and gross motor skills • develop language skills and vocabulary Children are naturally curious about the world around them. They experience and come to • develop critical thinking and problem- understand the world and their place in it through solving skills play. Creating opportunities for children to explore, • build confidence and social skills experiment, question and discover new concepts about the world in playful ways is central to their • foster creativity and imagination learning, development and wellbeing. • develop emotional maturity.

Through play, children engage with the people, Learning through play doesn’t need to happen places and objects around them to form their in formal settings like pre-school for children to understanding of the world and how they fit into get the benefits. When children are young they it. Play helps to develop a child’s knowledge and play and learn in the home, making parents skills, and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and caregivers their first teachers. Families can both in school and beyond. support children’s learning and development by creating opportunities for play in the home.

How does play help my child grow? Play can happen both inside and outdoors. You don’t need expensive toys or equipment. Learning Play has a powerful impact on children’s through play can build on everyday activities in early cognitive, physical, social and emotional the home and make use of common household development. Encouraging your child to make up items. Cardboard rolls and boxes, plastic cups and a game, and joining in, will help the child to: buckets, wooden spoons, food packaging, old clothes and pots and pans are just some of the • become autonomous learners items you can use. Feel free to get creative! • develop a lifelong passion for learning • develop numeracy and literacy skills

education.nsw.gov.au/early-childhood-education NSW Department of Education

Ideas for learning through play in the home

Playing with Babies • Camp in the back yard, sit around a fire pit and tell stories or do shadow plays. Children love to • Reading, talking, telling stories and singing to get wet, dirty and tired, and learn new things. your baby will help them learn about language, words, and sounds. Playing with Preschoolers • Have fun making funny noises, squealing and • Playing games like dress-up, make-believe, babbling together (an early form of talk). hide and seek or I Spy engages your child’s • Tummy time strengthens your baby’s head, imagination and creativity. neck and upper body muscles. This will help • Playing with sensory materials like playdough them develop movement control. Try to do can develop your child’s fine motor skills. supervised tummy time every day. You can buy playdough, or make it at home. • Toys and objects in different shapes, textures, Consider using shape, alphabet and number colours and sizes can help your baby reach and cookie cutters to build literacy and numeracy grasp. Soft blocks, balls, stuffed toys and plastic skills. You can also add textured materials like rings are good options. beads, buttons and pasta shells to playdough to encourage sensory exploration. • Listening to music can help your baby’s hearing development. Try listening to nursery rhymes • Playing board games and sorting puzzles will together or make your own music with items help children learn to think critically and solve around the home. Plastic bottles filled with rice problems. make fun shakers and you can use wooden • Ask your child to ‘read’ you a story. spoons and pots and pans to make drums. • Doing simple household tasks together like • Sitting your baby near sturdy furniture can cooking, gardening, hanging up washing, encourage them to pull themselves up and feeding your pet and tidying up messes can stand. You can encourage crawling by making teach children about teamwork and build their tunnels out of cardboard boxes or chairs. confidence. Playing with Toddlers • Building obstacle courses in the house or yard supports both fine and gross motor skills. Make • Making collages with paper, scissors, and glue obstacles using empty cardboard boxes, jump can help your toddler develop fine motor skills rope or cord, small ladders, hoops, cones and and use their creativity. You can use scraps of more to encourage movements like running, paper or fabric, dried pasta or cereal, tin foil, jumping, stepping, climbing, and hopping. This pipe-cleaners, ice-cream sticks, buttons or even helps overall physical fitness and coordination. natural items like feathers, sand and leaves. • Reaching out to family and friends by video or • Building blanket forts or cubby houses in the phone call can foster social, communication home will encourage your toddler to use their and language skills. This sort of playful interaction imagination and solve problems. You can make can teach children how to get along with adults a blanket fort by hanging a blanket over a and other children. table. Large cardboard boxes can be used for cubbyhouses, with holes cut out for windows • Look up and engage in activities you can do and doors. You can paint and decorate the away from the home such as playgroups, cubbyhouse together as a fun activity. libraries, or what your local council has to offer. • Sports equipment like balls, rope and hoops encourage throwing, catching, jumping, These are just some of the activities you and your child running and stretching. This develops your can do together. The most important thing is for you and your child to spend quality time together, talking, toddler’s gross motor skills. exploring, laughing and having fun. • Listening to family-friendly music and radio is a fun way of increasing language and Remember that children aged 1 – 5 need three to four hours of play every day. Play activities should be communication skills. Music and rhyme can spread throughout the day. increase pattern recognition and dancing is a creative way to help your child express feelings For more information contact your child’s service or and ideas. This can help foster their social and the Early Childhood Education Directorate on 1800 619 emotional development. 113 or [email protected] NSW Department of Education

Learning through play schedule

This is an example of different things you can do with your child during the week, to encourage play and learning.

Activities are suggestions and can be moved around flexibly in the day, depending on your time availability and what works for you in the home.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Get active Play outside, try Play with words Do a virtual Listen to hide and seek museum or zoo Kinderling radio Play with Borrow a book tour together stretching, balls Google: raising from the library, Visit: kinderling. and toys children outdoor or join in reading Google: world com.au play time zoos that offer virtual tours

Break time

Listen to a Make lunch Play outside Play with hands Screen time, try podcast together using shapes, Little J and Big Google: raising Lego, playdough Cuz Google: ABC Kids Visit: children outdoor Listen healthyliving. play Visit: allplaylearn. Google: Little J nsw.gov.au org.au/ and Big Cuz Lunch time Rest time or sleep time

Read a book Arts and crafts try Play with numbers Play with words Make an together ABC Make & Do afternoon tea Google: helping Google: Twinkl treat together Visit: letsread. Download: The your child with EAL com.au Deadly Tots App literacy and Visit: numeracy at healthyliving. Download: The home nsw.gov.au Deadly Tots app

Snack time

Play with numbers Get active Read a book Imaginative play, Do a virtual together play dress ups, museum or zoo Google: helping Try dancing, make a blanket tour together your child with stretching, have Download: LOVE fort literacy and a bbq or picnic, Talk SING Read Visit: numeracy at kick a ball around PLAY app Google: raising govalleykids. home or fly a kite children play Download: The com/virtual-field- learning Deadly Tots app trips

To see more learning through play resources visit: education.nsw.gov.au/ece-learning-from-home